Please help choose which Marriott is the nicest in London? We have a lot of Marriott reward points. We want a location convenient to plenty of restaurants; up-to-date luxurious rooms . . . does anyone know what the new Marriott on Park Lane is like? It opened in November. Otherwise, it's between the Marriott on Grosvenor Sq and the County Hall.

The Park Lane Marriott just opened last week, and is supposed to be beautiful and of couse is in a great location. I like County Hall for the river location and the river views. Don't forget about the Renaissance Chancery Court, a gorgeous new hotel in a beautiful old building. Very large rooms. They also have a spa. You can use your Marriott Reward points here as well, as far as I know. Grovsenor Square is a nice hotel in a good location, however it is slightly older than the others, and room size may be smaller.

Dear Ms Wells,<BR><BR>There's a review of the Renaissance Chancery Court Hotel on<BR>http://www.epinions.com/Renaissance_Chancery_Court___Great_Britain/display_~reviews<BR>It is at 252 High Holborn, near the British Museum but a little away from other tourist places<BR><BR>Park Lane is now a busy two-lane main road, difficult to cross, and has only a few, dull, shops and no pubs<BR><BR>Grosvenor Square is good for shops in Oxford Street and Bond Street, and for and the Wallace Collectuon but a little away from other tourist places<BR><BR>County Hall is good for Westminster, Parliament, the Abbey and Whitehall, and you can cross the bridge to Westminster underground station, for direct trains to many tourist places<BR><BR>Welcome to London<BR><BR>Ben Haines<BR><BR><BR>http://www.epinions.com/Marriott_Park_Lane___Great_Britain/display_~reviews<BR>140 Park Lane London<BR><BR>Marriott Grosvenor Square<BR>Marriott Park Lane<BR>Marriott County Hall<BR><BR><BR><BR>There's a reviewof the Renaissance Chancery Court Hotel on<BR>http://www.epinions.com/Renaissance_Chancery_Court___Great_Britain/display_~reviews<BR>It is at 252 High Holborn, near the British Museum but a little away from other tourist places<BR><BR>Park Lane is now a busy two-lane main road, difficult to cross, and has only a few, dull, shops and no pubs<BR><BR>Grosvenor Square is good for shops in Oxford Street and Bond Street, and for and the Wallace Collectuon but a little away from other tourist places<BR><BR>County Hall is good for Westminster, Parliament, the Abbey and Whitehall, and you can cross the bridge to Westminster underground station, for direct trains to many tourist places<BR><BR>Welcome to London<BR><BR>Ben Haines<BR><BR>

The quality of advice on this board is amazing. Better than any travel book or magazine, anywhere! I would never have known about the Renaissance Chancery Court without you--it sounds great! We are still dithering about the location, though. I'm disappointed, Ben, that you said Park Lane is not great, because on a map it looks ideal. Thank you so much for your help!

I was just researching this myself!<BR><BR>The London 47 Park Street hotel is an all suite hotel under the Marriott Vacation club. The points are the same as a Category 7. You can get a two bedroom suite for the same points as a double room at the Hotel County Hall. The only negative is you can not use it as one of your hotels if you do the UK 3 hotels in 7 nights combination package.<BR><BR>The Hotel Park Lane looked like a great location to me too, but the rooms only have either 1 king, 1 queen, or 2 twins (and we are a party of 3) so that won't work for us.<BR><BR>Looks like we are going to book the County Hall for the larger rooms??<BR><BR>Best of Luck

We booked the Renaissance Chancery Court after reading the review suggested by Ben Haines, because it sounds loaded with atmosphere. Also, we stayed at County Hall once and thought it was great, the only problem was in the evening, after theater, of course there are no taxis, and it was one heck of a long walk. It appears on the map that Ren. Chancery Court is closer to the theater district. Also, we thought there might be more restaurants/non-tourist-type in the area, though we could be wrong. The rooms at County Hall were indeed immense for Europe.

Our family stayed at the Chancery Court over Thanksgiving and we really iked it. Coincidentally 2 other couples we knew had stayed there over the summer. It was lovely! I would ask for a large room near the marble staircase. I have never stayed anywhere with finer sheets or more comfortable beds. We had 2 adjoining rooms, one with a King bed and the other with 2 doubles for our teenage daughters. The breakfast never varied but was quite filling and offered a wide selection. The area is very safe and the underground (Holborn Station)is so safe and convenient (1 block from the hotel) that we took it everywhere and our girls even managed to negotiate it on their own. It was also very easy and inexpensive to get from Heathrow on the Picadilly line without changing trains in about 45 minutes. We purchased a Tourist Travelcard at the airport, which is the only place in London you can purchase one, and used it to get to the hotel and then everywhere else we went. We found it was an easy walk to the theater and many restaurants although we took the underground several times every day. Hope this helps!

In May we stayed at the Grosvenor Square Marriott for over a week. I wanted to stay at the County Hall across from Parliment but it did not work out. Turns out the Grosvenor was a great choice, off the main street by one block. Our room overlooked the park which is shared by the American Embassay. Lots of great little restuarants near by. Close to the tube, shopping and other parks. The staff was very helpful, and the MI resturant was nice. Its not a big hotel, but nice, quiet and convenient.

We're taking the Heathrow Express to Paddington Station and need to get from there to Marriott County Hall - a family of 5 (older children and we'll have roll-along luggage). Suggestions for getting to the hotel from Paddington? It will be on a Saturday morning - would getting to the Westminster underground station be difficult and could we roll our luggage over the bridge to the hotel? This wouldn't exactly be a classy entrance ;-) Or, assuming 5 would be tight in a cab, should we call for a minivan pickup?

TT: I would NOT use the Paddington Express in your case. Five train fares plus the two taxis (or a fairly long tube ride and schlep across the river) would not be agreat introduction to London.<BR><BR>Either book a mini van car service from LHR that will take you &quot;door to door&quot;, or take Hotel Link. (I can't believe I am actually recommending Hotel Link twice on the same day - but in your situation it is a reasonable alternative.)

Well, actually, there's a special Heathrow Express fare of 4 for the price of 2 (adults - over age 15) on weekends, so we'd only have 2 adult fares plus a child's (age 8) fare. We'll be dropping our car off at Heathrow after having been in the countryside for the week and I intended to get the family Travel Card when we got to London anyway so figured we could use it right off from Paddington. But, not having been there, I wasn't sure how realistic my plan was and appreciate your advice and recommendation!

TT: OK - With the fare discount, I'd consider the Paddington Express and tube. But leave your options open. If it is raining, or it is during rush hour, or the kids (or the adults are cranky - just go to the Hotel Link desk and use their coach. No need to book ahead.

Just returned from Marriott County Hall yesterday. It was 7 pounds for 3 of us by tube - vs. 60 pounds for car or taxi. We took the tube (not the express) to South Kensington and connected there to the district line to Westminster stop. From there it is a straight shot across the bridge to the hotel . It was well worth the 53 pounds savings (from my perspective) - and I didn't care what anyone thought! You want to buy a family daily pass. You will need to carry luggage up/down a few flights of stairs.

Thanks for the information, Julie. <BR><BR>Am curious about affordable/good restaurants in the vicinity of County Hall - particularly for breakfast if we don't eat at the hotel (usually costly for a family at the hotel). I imagine we'll be 'out and about' during the day and will find other places, but it's nice to have someplace convenient to eat as soon as everybody's ready to go in the morning. Or, are there any bagel or pastry shops nearby where I could just bring some food back to the rooms to eat while we're getting ready?

We had access to the executive lounge for a free continental breakfast each day. Not sure why we were able to do this, perhaps because I stay at Marriotts frequently. The hotel food is very expensive. A nice and reasonable cafe is the basement of St. Martin in the Fields on Trafalgar Square for lunch or dinner. And the concerts in the church are wonderful. Others on this forum mentioned Pret a Manger - a chain. Not sure where the closest is to Marriott County Hall - but they are very reasonable and good.

Yes, you can go to a grocery and stock up on rolls, croissants, or whatever you like, and an assortment of their wonderful jams. My daughter and I love the black currant. It's a lot of fun to cruise the groceries, and they are a great place to buy gifts to bring home. Cadbury bars are much better than those avilable in the U.S., and the cookies (biscuits) are wonderful.

Thanks to the fantastic advice on this board, we chose the Renaissance Chancery Court (part of the Marriott chain) for our stay in London (got back yesterday). This time we were there with 3 kids; previously just the 2 of us stayed at Marriott County Hall and loved it. But with children, we found the Chancery Court better located, bcs. we were walking distance to so many theaters (one of the few great bargains in London are the theatre tickets, esp. at discount, compared to Broadway. Discount tickets are also easier to get than in NYC). We were also a short walk to innumerable reasonably priced restaurants in the Covent Garden area which would appeal to teens and be affordable to a family of 5; also, with teenagers perpetually hungry, there were ample cheap breakfast/snack options around Chancery Court, whereas there are not near County Hall (Westminster is obviously not known for lots of reasonably priced, family-friendly restaurants). Our kids thought the Covent Garden area was the &quot;coolest&quot; in London, with many cutting-edge shops; they also enjoyed shopping around Carnaby St. We strongly recommend the Renaissance Chancery Court Hotel, because of its extremely quiet atmosphere, comfy beds, good service (a great night's sleep is guaranteed, which is our #1 criterion for an enjoyable trip--and not always easy to get in a major city). Thank you to all the posters on Fodor's who recommended London-Transport car service to get in from the airport!

I stayed at the Marriott Park Lane which is at the head of Marble Arch the first week it opened. The hotel staff wer very helpful and friendly, assisting us with reservations and theatre tickets and were very knowledgeable on local places to dine. We loved the bartenders and the concierge.